Thunder Player Power Rankings: KD is code for clutch

It was a 3-2 week for the Thunder that featured the first two losses of the season and then a sweep of a back-to-back-to-back. Blah blah blah, let’s rank the roster.

1. Kevin Durant (Last week: 1)

The first week of 2012 didn’t quite contain the same fireworks for KD the last week of 2011 did. No dramatic buzzer-beaters, no 30-point games even. But Durant did score the final 13 points against Houston which included a game-winner with 22 seconds left. In fact, check this out: Via StatsCube, Durant is 8-13 in the clutch (defined as the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime with a score differential of five points or less) for 27 points in just 18 minutes. That’s nine more points than the next closest guy in the league. KD isn’t becoming a closer. He is one.

2. James Harden (Last week: 3)

It’s time to talk seriously about how good James Harden. Like, where does he fit in terms of the really good players in the league? Let me throw out five guys and you tell me if Harden is better, worse or on par: Kevin Martin, Joe Johnson, Tyreke Evans, Jason Terry, Jamal Crawford. All five Harden is averaging more points per game and has a higher PER. In fact, excluding Manu Ginobili who is hurt, Harden leads all shooting guards in PER with a 24.75. He’s gone from a likely double-digit guy to a threat for 20 every night. He hasn’t scored less than 10 yet this season and he shot 43 percent from 3 this week. The beard is currently being feared.

3. Russell Westbrook (Last week: 4)

After an up and down opening week, Westbrook was far more consistent and steady over the last seven days. He scored 93 points on 83 shots (averaging 18.6 ppg on 44.5 percent shooting), got his turnovers under control (just 2.6 a game) and looked a whole lot more like himself. He brought the Thunder back from the dead against the Rockets in Houston and seems to have found his jumper again. His assists stayed down (5.4 a game for the week), but he hasn’t needed to play as much as a creator with KD and Harden doing plenty of it. That area definitely needs to improve some though. The Thunder are at their best when Westbrook is dishing out eight or more assists.

4. Serge Ibaka (Last week: 8)

I think we all might’ve expected a bit much from Ibaka this season. Since he was set to be a full-time starter and he put up pretty good numbers splitting between starting and coming off the bench last year, it seemed natural he’d trend up to double-double territory. Yet he’s putting up numbers about like Perk. Last week though, Ibaka was a bit better, averaging eight points and six boards with 2.2 blocks a game. Maybe he’s not going to have a monster season like some of us thought and his minutes curiously fluctuate, but as long as he’s doing his job, he makes OKC a lot better.

5. Kendrick Perkins (Last week: 2)

Perk is doing pretty much the same exact things he did the opening week, except I’m not as excited about his re-made body (pause) as I was last week. Now I know what to expect from Perk — rebounding, good help defense, tough post defense and a nightly scuffle. Just the way the Thunder needs it.

6. Thabo Sefolosha (Last week: 6)

It looks to me like Thabo’s defense is returning to his 2009-10 form and here’s a fun fact: So far this year, Thabo is 7-12 from 3. That’s 58 percent. That’s best on the team. That’s good.

7. Nick Collison (Last week: 7)

Not only did Collison put up a double-double against the Spurs, he also dominated Matt Bonner. That’s something to take note of. Collison dunked on him, took him off the dribble, abused him the post — it was the total package.

8. Nazr Mohammed (Last week: 10)

I am absolutely in love with the passing going on between Collison and Nazr Mohammed in the post. No-looks, smart extra drop-offs, draw and dishes — it’s great stuff.

9. Reggie Jackson (Last week: 12)

It took just one game, but Jackson seems to have won the confidence of a lot of Thunder fans. Mainly because he himself is quite the confident young man. Jackson didn’t hesitate in his first night of replacing Eric Maynor, stepping in and taking open shots while running the offense smoothly. It’s one game and the season is long and will have bumps, but Jackson certainly should have eased some worries.

10. Daequan Cook (Last week: 5)

Between flu-like symptoms and wearing welding glasses, Cook didn’t have a great week shooting the ball. He hit 57 percent of his shots from deep the opening week but hit just 2-14 this past week.

11. Cole Aldrich (Last week: 11)

Watching Cole Aldrich bumble around and try his very hardest the last four minutes of a blowout is one of those simple pleasures that come along with having a good team. Aldrich isn’t a bad player by any means, but the dude takes garbage time seriously. Diving on the floor, screaming out screens like someone on Reno Ave. needs to hear it, trying to rebound every shot — Aldrich is busting it out there.

12. Lazar Hayward (Last week: 13)

It’s pretty much guaranteed that Hayward’s first shot of each game he plays in is either going to barely glance the rim or smack directly into the backboard.

KD's FTAs are down, his drives to the rim are down, and he's hitting 50% from 16-23 ft, 9% better than his career best despite the fact that he's only been assisted on 44.4 percent of those shots, 10% less than his career low. I know it seems like every time he shoots it should go in, but if his shot location trends continue, I'd expect to see a drop off in his efficiency.

It would be extremely plausible to me to expect drives to the rim to go down as a whole this year due to fatigue.

Man frustrating... Having a lot of problems getting my wife to ok the name Harden Kevin Collison Feeley (which is my last name)... If it's a boy.. And she hates the name Touchy Feeley even more.... There is just no winning with her I guess

Theory: The combo of Harden and KD playing ballhandler in the PnR more frequently means the ball's been taken out of Russ' hands this season more than last. His early season struggles are a reflection of his not having the ball as much as he is used to, leading to him generally trying to do to much because the possessions called for him seem more precious.

Did anyone catch the bit Scott Brooks was part of during garbage time where he interacted with the someone in the crowd? All I could see was that it was some kind of clowing around. Was wondering what happened.

I guess I'm glad the 3rd team guys get to play and it's not because it's us getting blown out. If we get some more blowouts so those guys get some scrimmage time I can enjoy the simple pleasure of watching Cole come along too.

I literally read every word of Cole Aldrich's praises in disbelief. I certainly don't get to all the home games and I listen to the radio for most away games so maybe I've missed it, but I guarantee that "busting it out there" was definitely not what Cole was doing in the final minutes of the first Rockets game.What I'm about to say is going to sound idiotic, but here it goes: I used to coach 7th grade basketball and I would have pulled my 4th-string big guy off the court for a similar showing. No one plays on my team unless they're giving it their all...even in the last few minutes of a blow out.

Otherwise, I love the Player Rankings! It really gives perspective to what is usually comprised of intense analysis of each and every detail of the Thunder games, practices, and drama. Keep it coming!

@SammyThunderer KD has always floated a bit too much around the perimeter. I had really hoped his improved ballhandling would give him the confidence and ability to attack the paint more. Fatigue may be a factor, but I think it should be a concerted plan by the coaching to get into the paint more on drives. Defenders long term should be just as gassed, and KD is obviously one of the best finishers in the league.

@f5alcon Everybody at ESPN has been going crazy about their great offense. Marc Stein has them ranked 4. The 5-on-5 today had three of the 5 guys putting the Nuggets above the Thunder. Have they already forgotten about last season? The Nuggets had all these great numbers and then got destroyed by the Thunder in the 1st round. The Thunder are better this year, and I'd say the Nuggets are worse this year than last.

I know exactly where you're coming from. My only son was born in 1988 and I tried to convince my wife we should name him Christopher Mookie Seiger Jackson. Good luck with the B-ball theme name for your son, but from a guy who tried to pull this caper off 23 years ago--I don't like your chances. For whatever it's worth..KD, James, and Nick are my three favorite players as well. Collison Feeley would a very cool name. Shorten it to that and see what happens. I've always regretted that I went for both Mookie and Sieger and came up completely dry. Been there. Done that.

@SammyThunderer I think there is still time to see Russell's game change. As Royce mentioned, his play this past week contrasts rather starkly with his play to begin the season. And if you think back to last year after the Jeff Green trade, our offense stagnated and Russ went into hero mode more often. We still have that same lineup issue. Just playing devil's advocate.

@persiansooner attaboy Harden! It just drives me nuts some time when we seem to not get calls on the first team so we quit trying or something. I may be wrong though. You know what I mean sitting there in the crowd thinking "GET IN THE PAINT DARNIT"

@yehoshuagardner@f5alcon Exactly! I was appalled by how high those 5-on-5 guys ranked the Nuggets. I think a lot of people are operating under the assumption that their poor shooting will end sometime soon and their offense will start getting more efficient. However, I think the Nuggets have potential to be better this year because they have a lot of really interesting energy guys on their bench. Aside from Birdman, they brought in Faried who is the best rebounder of the 2011 draft class, Rudy Fernandez who gets points and steals in bunches, Andre Miller who is an incredible veteran presence (better than Felton) with better passing but worse scoring, and Afflalo is getting so much better. And if they get K-Mart back, they'll become a pretty tough out in the first round.

They are overrating Point differential, which looks upon us poorly so far this season because we have failed to finish our blowout wins convincingly. Against Orlando, Houston, San Antonio, and Phoenix we were outscored by 38 total points in the fourth quarter. Anyone who watched those games knows that those points were meaningless.

@Jax Raging Bile Duct Have his past few games really been all that great? He shot well in two games (both against the same team playing their backup PG), which is good, but he's still not getting to the line much and still not handing out PG-level assists. And his defense is still as gambling as ever. I'm not sure we're seeing anything different, we're just giving him more credit for shooting well. He's still been well below expectations.

@[censored]@SammyThunderer Counter: Westbrook's usage is high as ever, 7th overall in the league. You could arguably blame some of his loss of assists and uptick in turnovers on the lowered PnR chances, but not his overall game. He still gets a ton of possessions - just has been less effective with them so far.

@nomad@yehoshuagardner they don't want smith back, they are only interested in chandler. Chandler is a FA there are going to be other teams interested in him, that might pay him more than what denver offers, probably will still end up in denver but not automatic.

@[censored] Completely forgot about a number of assistant coaches that I'd thought about before. Budenholzer, Elston Turner, David Joerger chief among them. I think teams have been trying to pry Budenholzer away for years, but with the combination of SA on the decline, OKC's roster being a coach's wet dream, and Presti's SAS connections, I'd imagine the offer to coach here would be extremely enticing.

@SammyThunderer Agreed. And some of that I can accept because the Krstic/Green pairing was so inept at one on one frontcourt defense that helping off the perimeter (and then hustling to recover) was a must. I don't think that kind of help is as necessary with this current personnel, but the problem I see is that all of our rotations have suffered, and we're allowing way too much dribble penetration.

But like I mentioned yesterday, we've been ahead by so many points in several of these games that good defense hasn't been necessary to win games. And I fear it may be a situation that is fostering bad defensive habits.

@SammyThunderer@Keith00 As for defense, the further we are from the Ron Adams years, the further removed we are from good perimeter defense. I actually think our interior defense has improved, but that's probably just a product of Perk and Ibaka just being way better than Krstic and Green. But allowing dribble penetration is as high as it's ever been according to my eye tests. I just can't shake the feeling that it is as much a coaching issue as it is anything. I remember when we would all complain every week about Russ going for offensive rebounds and allowing his guy to leak out for a break. We were so mad at him, we railed him for it, then we find out that Scott Brooks spent time preaching that 'all 5 guys have to rebound' and we realized that Russ was just doing what his coach was asking him to do. I think to some degree that same dynamic still exists.

@Jax Raging Bile Duct@Keith00 When looking at what's happened, I'm not really predicting trends that'll continue for the rest of the year. I'm just trying to evaluate the first 10 games in and of themselves and try to suss out what's happened.

@Keith00 Of course it's just my interpretation of his game, but the biggest difference I've seen this past week is that he took over when it was time instead of getting in the way of something good. This is best exemplified in Houston during that 3rd quarter. KD was cold, nothing was working and the team had nothing going. Russell took them on his back, made several smart plays and made several good shots on decent looks and took that 12 point deficit to an even score by quarters end, basically on his own. Then when KD hit his stride again, Russ didn't get in the way. Russ turned it on in a similar way during that Dallas game when the crowd started chanting his name. He had about 5 or 6 straight plays of great game-changing basketball after that.

I just think it's too early, only 10 games so far, to predict a trend line for Russell's stats. I think it's more legit to judge guys like Russell who are emotionally driven players, as we all agree, with an eye towards body language and attitude rather than a stat line. I just don't get the sense that we've seen Russell hit that place where he'll be by season's end yet.

@Keith00@Jax Raging Bile Duct I can live with the lowered assists; it makes sense given kd's growth as a ball handler and harden's larger role in the offense. But I need to see his efficiency return. I actually think Weatbrook hasn't been aggressive enough; he's at his best driving, but his fga's at the rim have dropped off to 2010 levels.

@SammyThunderer Again, can't disagree. His emotional drive has given him the ability to be a star. But, it may ultimately hold him back from reaching his full potential. It took MJ a few years and a new (all time great) coach.

@Keith00 I'd go so far to say that Russ emotional baggage is a lot of what pushed him from a non-recruited high schooler to the player he is today. He'd be far from the first player to take perceived slights and transform them into fuel to make himself better, Michael Jordan being the obvious example. I just hope he can gain the perspective necessary to see how he can actually improve his play sooner than later.

@SammyThunderer I can't say I disagree with that assessment. Westbrook seems highly prone to emotional baggage - both good and bad. This continues to go back to my belief that Westbrook wants to win more than anyone, but has never been taught the difference between playing harder (more aggressively) and playing smarter.

@Keith00 The last sentence is indisputable. I do think he feels threatened by a combination of factors: by Harden's rise, by what the press has said about him, by the continued adoration lavished on KD, by every PG that talks crap to him in-game, by the looming contract (and lack thereof), and, possibly, by Brooks running more plays through KD and Harden. And I think Russ' basic defense mechanism when he feels threatened is try to shut everybody up and prove everyone wrong. Unfortunately for us, proving everyone wrong to Russ means going one on five.